Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Liam had scrubbed every inch of her body with the loofah and then proceeded to kiss every one of those inches as well, the shower water pouring over them.
“Do you know how many times I got myself off in the shower thinking about doing exactly this with you?” She rested her arms over his shoulders, and he brought his warm hands to her hips and pulled their wet bodies together.
“I think I can imagine.” He nipped her lip. “There was a reason why I labeled you as Off-Limits in my phone.”
“I didn’t even know you had my digits before our wedding.”
“Of course, I did. But every time I stared at your number, on the verge of calling, that label was my reminder why I shouldn’t.”
“You should’ve given in and called,” she interrupted. “But then again, maybe it wouldn’t have been the right time. I guess everything happens for a reason. Our drunken marriage saved my life from an assassin. The universe might not be so cruel after all.”
“I’m just happy you decided to give me a chance despite my fuckups.” He brushed his lips over hers but then his cell beeped, alerting them to a text.
Once out of the shower, Emily shrugged on the white hotel robe and leaned against the vanity counter. She watched with appreciation as Liam rubbed a towel over the length of his body, then dropped it to the floor and remained commando as he read the text.
She peeked at his phone. “Why does Jessica want us to turn on the news?”
“She has a habit of leaving me in suspense.” He flashed her a smile. “Lover of drama, if you can believe it.”
“Well, you did wait a few minutes to call her after our conversation with Hans to—”
“You didn’t enjoy having my mouth on you?”
Heat crawled into her cheeks at his words. The provocative tone had her prepping for him again—her body greedy and hungry for him.
“News,” she sputtered before they became distracted again.
They left the bathroom, and she settled on the bed as he turned on the TV.
Vanessa Blackburn’s face filled the screen as a reporter talked.
“Vanessa’s dead?” Emily sat up onto her knees.
“Looks like it,” he mumbled, eyes focused on the TV.
Elliott Nelson, Vanessa’s ex, filled the screen a moment later. His jet-black hair smoothed back with gel, his skin flawless for the age of fifty, and his green eyes she remembered from photos, now pinned straight toward the crowd gathered around him.
A full-court press aggressively surrounded him, waving microphones and snapping photos. She recognized the backdrop to where Elliott stood—he was outside their hotel right now.
Liam moved to the window and parted the curtains.
“You see him?” she asked.
“Yeah, but my guys will have eyes on him.” He let go of the curtains and returned to the TV when Elliott began talking.
“It’s with a heavy heart I share the news today my ex-wife, Vanessa Blackburn, passed away at her estate in Seattle yesterday.
I was with her when she took her last breath.
” Elliott pushed at the skin on his forehead as if trying to find the strength to talk.
“She hasn’t made a public appearance in quite some time because she didn’t want anyone to know she’d been ill. ”
“What does this mean?” a reporter asked.
“How’d she die? What happened?” someone else spoke up. “Who’s running the company now?”
More questions continued to hit the man.
“This is crazy,” Emily whispered.
“My ex-wife and I had remained very close over the years. In fact, I stepped in to help run Blackburn Technologies during her illness. Vanessa officially turned the company over to me last week, knowing she was close to death.” He kept his eyes on the sidewalk as if in unbearable pain.
Emily called bullshit, though.
“Before Vanessa passed she asked me to attend The Golden Minds Gala tomorrow night. The event is to raise money to help gifted children all around the world reach their full potential, and it was a charity Vanessa was very proud to sponsor.” He cleared his throat and looked back into the crowd.
“It’s sad we have lost such a talented and intelligent woman, but I promise I will continue her groundbreaking work, and pursue her dream of making Blackburn the number one defense technology company in the world.
” He lightly nodded. “That’s all I have to say at this time. ”
He turned from the cameras even though a dozen more questions snapped out from behind.
“He’s entering the hotel. Is he staying here tonight?”
“Looks that way.” Liam’s phone began ringing. “Guess he’s officially out of hiding.”
“Yeah,” she whispered, “but what the hell does all of this mean?”
Emily extended a cup of coffee his way, but Liam didn’t seem to notice, his eyes fixed on his laptop screen. “You haven’t slept, and it’s four in the morning.” Her mouth pinched with worry as she observed him.
He set the laptop off to his side on the couch and stood. He was in worn-out jeans, the top button unsnapped. No shirt. And as delicious as he looked, he also looked extremely tired.
“It’s hard to get rack time when we’re so close to figuring everything out.” He accepted the caffeine and took a sip.
“You won’t be any good to me at the gala tonight if you’re sleeping at the table.” She pointed to the bedroom, hoping he’d give in and at least sleep for a few hours, even though she’d just handed him a coffee to do the opposite.
He set his drink on the end table by the couch and braced her hips, pulling her a little closer to him. “I’m worried about Elaina.”
They’d FaceTimed with Elaina before her bedtime last night, and she’d admitted she was scared.
“Something bad is going to happen,” she’d whispered.
“Nothing bad will happen. I promise,” Liam had responded in a calm, soothing voice. “I’ll protect you.”
“I’m not worried about me,” was all she said before disappearing from the screen, leaving Emily’s heart in her throat, tears in her eyes.
“She’ll be okay,” Emily assured him. “You and your people won’t let anything happen to her. We’re going to figure this out. We only have two suspects now, Jeremiah and Elliott, and they’re both here at the hotel.”
“Vanessa dying—I didn’t see it coming.”
“You couldn’t have known. None of us could.” She brought her hands to his biceps.
“There’s something we’re missing,” he said, his voice so matter-of-fact.
“Your team will figure it out. I bet they always do, right?” When he didn’t answer, she asked, “Still no movement on Connor?”
Emily had fallen asleep on the couch around midnight while he worked to find a lead and make sense of the turn of events last night. When she’d woken up to find him still glued to his computer—she’d felt guilty for having slept.
“No, Asher and A.J. are still parked outside Connor’s flat in the city, waiting for him to make a move. It’s better to let him lead us somewhere than for us to grab and interrogate him. We don’t have days to get him to break.”
“Maybe when he leaves his home, Asher can get inside his place and see if there’s anything helpful?”
Of course, Liam’s team surely already had a game plan, and so she was probably wasting her breath. She was a newbie to the world of covert ops, and they were pros. But that didn’t mean she could just shut off her brain and stop the ideas spinning in her head.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Her hands slid down to his forearms.
“Anything,” he said with a smile.
She let go of him and stepped out of his embrace.
“I know the team has spent all night combing over every online image, every media clip, as well all the CCTV footage you guys could find of Vanessa over the last several years . . .” She took a breath and hugged her body as a chill chased over her skin.
“And you came to the conclusion Elliott probably used Vanessa as a pawn to reclaim his fortune and his place in the tech world after he lost everything three years ago.”
“Probably poisoned her to make it look like a gradual decline in health so her death wouldn’t look suspicious or come as a surprise. And make it easier for him to take over the company,” he noted.
“But what if Vanessa’s not so innocent? What if Vanessa hurt Elliott in a way that had him out for blood and maybe not just hers?”
“Weston Tech,” he said, and she nodded.
“What if she was in bed—literally or figuratively—with someone from Weston Tech while she and Elliott were still married? Maybe she supplied that person information about her husband’s company, and it was her actions that led to the collapse of Elliott’s business?”
“But why the divorce settlement?”
“Elliott’s a genius, right? What if he discovered her betrayal but didn’t let on he knew?” She’d seen similar scenarios in court. More times than she could count.
“So, he asks her for a divorce because he’s going to lose everything, and it’s his idea to start up Blackburn Technologies with the settlement money?”
“And she had no idea he was aware of her betrayal,” she replied. “He could’ve been pulling the strings at Blackburn all of this time while slowly killing her off, choosing this moment to officially end things and take over the company.”
“It’s not just about taking the contracts from Weston Tech to advance the company,” Liam said as if processing his thoughts out loud. “It’s about totally destroying them as payback for whatever happened, which means it has to be the owner or someone high up at Weston if he’s hitting this hard.”
“But why would Vanessa secretly stay with Elliott after the divorce? Why not continue to betray him and take the money and run?” It’d been the only drawback to her theory.
“Because the guy she was sleeping with was probably married and had no intention of leaving his wife. Or maybe he used her for information.”
“She was a smart woman—doubt she’d fall for . . .” She shook her head. “Then again, love can make people throw caution to the wind.”
“Either way, I think you solved this. I don’t know why I’m so surprised. You constantly impress me.” He squeezed her arms and kissed her. “God, I love you,” he rushed out then grabbed his phone, acting as if the most important combination of words didn’t just fall from his mouth.
Maybe he didn’t realize he’d said them. Or maybe she had imagined it?
She stood completely still as he rattled off the theory to Jessica over a secure line.
Her heart pounded and pounded like never before.
He’d said he’d fallen for her—but did the man just admit he loved her, too?